MOVE OVER, LATKES, IT´S TORTILLA TIME

 Eggs, potatoes and oil are the basic ingredients for latkes, potato pancakes or patties, a beloved food for the holiday of Hanukkah (begins Sunday evening, Nov. 28). Not so very different is the tortilla de patatas, Spanish potato tortilla, a sort of “omelet” or “cake” with eggs and potatoes cooked in olive oil. 

Potato tortilla, an alternative to latkes? Similar ingredients--eggs and potatoes cooked in olive oil.

Hanukkah is a celebration of olive oil. The holiday marks the victory in the 2nd Century BC of the Maccabees over an occupying force and the re-lighting of the menorah in the Temple. The olive oil for the menorah, enough for a single day, lasted for eight days and nights.

Tortilla is another great way to celebrate with olive oil. Different than latkes, but just as delicious. In any case, Hanukkah lasts eight days. There’s plenty of time to try tortilla as well.

The classic tortilla is simply potatoes and eggs with a little chopped onion, but you can easily customize your version, incorporating parsley or other herbs, spinach or other vegetable, mushrooms, roasted red peppers. (See below for links to more tortilla recipes.) 

Serve tortilla for breakfast, brunch, lunch, snack, tapas or dinner! In Spain, tortilla is not generally served with a sauce. I’ve noticed that American-style tapas bars like to present it with a piquant alioli (garlic mayonnaise). My kids always liked it with ketchup! Serve tortilla with a heap of fried green peppers or roasted red peppers on the side, with sautéed mushrooms or tomato salad. Add some smoked salmon and call it brunch. Pair tortilla with tomato soup for a terrific lunch. 

My tortilla is a little ragged on the edges. It is about 2 inches thick, still a little juicy in the center. 

Latkes are often served accompanied by apple sauce and/or sour cream. That didn't seem quite right with tortilla, but tangy apple chutney and a dollop of Greek yogurt are perfect!

You can make a pastel de tortilla or stacked tortilla cake, combining three small tortillas of potatoes, spinach and red peppers. Spread it with bechamel and grated cheese and brown under the broiler. Cut the stack like a cake.

Unlike latkes, which use grated raw potatoes, the tortilla is made with sliced potatoes that are cooked first in olive oil, then combined with beaten eggs. The mixture doesn’t need any flour or crumbs. It does take patience, to slowly cook the potatoes in oil.

Classic Potato Tortilla

Tortilla de Patatas

Use olive oil—preferably extra virgin—for this recipe. You shouldn’t use the highest quality/expensive oil, as delicate flavor is lost in the cooking process. 

Don’t try to scimp on the quantity of olive oil. You need enough oil to cover the potatoes, so they cook evenly in little time. The potatoes soak up very little of the cooking oil. The oil--as long as it's olive oil-- can be strained and used again, so it is not wasted.  

What variety of potato is best for tortilla? Preferred are what in Spain are labelled “para freir,” frying potatoes. Use new potatoes, not mature ones. Suggested varieties are Kennebec, Monalisa and Agria. 

Potatoes can be peeled and sliced in advance of cooking the tortilla. Cover the sliced potatoes with water to keep them from turning dark. Drain well and pat dry before adding them to the heated oil.

A truco, cook’s “trick”: use a large deep skillet to cook the potatoes in oil, so there is no danger of the mixture overflowing the sides of the pan. Then use a smaller, lightweight, no-stick skillet to cook the tortilla. You absolutely don’t want a cast-iron skillet for the tricky flipping of the pan. A 10-inch skillet produces a 2-inch thick tortilla using the ingredients as given in this recipe. 

The potatoes don’t “fry” but rather, “poach” in the oil. Moderate the heat so the oil bubbles gently (oil temperature around 200ºF, whereas frying temperature is 360ºF). If potatoes begin to brown, lower the heat further. How long to cook them depends on the type of potato and cooking temperature. Mine were ready in 12 minutes. Add the chopped onions after the potatoes have been cooking 8 minutes or so, so they don’t brown too quickly.

Serves 4-8.

Tortilla ingredients.

2 pounds frying potatoes

4 cups olive oil

¾ cup chopped onions

1 teaspoon salt

6 eggs

Peel the potatoes. Cut big ones in half or quarters lengthwise. Slice them crosswise ¼-inch thick. 

Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet on moderately high heat. Carefully add the potatoes. They may splutter at first when moisture hits the hot oil. Gently stir the potatoes so all are evenly mixed with the oil. Then lower the heat to medium. Cook the potatoes in the oil, stirring them occasionally, about 8 minutes.

Use lots of olive oil to "poach" the potatoes. Best to use a deep skillet for cooking the potatoes, then a smaller one to cook the tortilla. 

Add the onions to the potatoes and continue cooking until the potatoes are completely tender, 4-5 minutes longer. Remove the skillet from the heat. Place a heat-proof sieve or colander over a heat-proof bowl. Use a skimmer to lift the potatoes out of the oil into the sieve. Sprinkle the potatoes with ½ teaspoon of the salt. Allow the excess oil to drain from the potatoes. Allow the oil remaining in the pan to cool.

Beat the eggs in a large bowl with the remaining ½ teaspoon of salt. Gradually mix the potatoes with the eggs, making sure all of them are coated with egg. (If raw egg is not a problem for you, taste the mixture and add additional salt if desired.)

Eggs almost set, tortilla is ready to flip.

Add 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil in the deep skillet to a smaller (10-inch) skillet and heat on moderately-high. Pour in the egg-potato mixture and spread it evenly. Use a wooden or heat-proof spatula to stir the mixture briefly. Reduce the heat to moderate and let the mixture begin to set on the bottom, without browning. Shake the skillet occasionally to make sure the egg-potatoes are not sticking to the bottom. Cook until the top of the egg-potatoes begins to thicken and set, 4-5 minutes. Although you cannot check the bottom, it should be golden, not browned. 

Place a flat plate on top of the skillet. Use a towel or hot pad to grip the handle of the skillet. Place the other hand flat against the plate to hold it firmly in place. Working over a bowl to catch any possible drips, lift the skillet and turn it upside down, releasing the tortilla onto the plate. 

Reverse the tortilla onto a flat plate, then slide it back into the skillet to finish cooking.

Carefully, ease the tortilla back into the skillet to cook on the bottom, 3 minutes. The center will remain a little juicy. If you like the eggs cooked completely, cook a little longer, taking care not to let the bottom brown too much.

Remove the pan from the heat. Tip the pan and slide the tortilla out onto a serving dish.

To serve, cut the tortilla into 8 wedges. Serve hot, warm or room temperature.

When the cooking oil has cooled, strain it into a bowl or jar. Use it for frying and sautéeing. 

After cooking the tortilla, the olive oil has been strained. I started with 4 cups of oil--I've got almost 3 ½  cups left. Olive oil can be reused two or three times. 

To serve with tortilla:

Roasted Bell Peppers.

Fried Green Peppers.

Piquillo Pepper Ketchup.

Green Chile Sauce (Mojo Verde).

Garlic Mayonnaise (Alioli).

Tomato Sauce.

Apple-Mango Chutney.

More versions of tortilla:

Eggplant Tortilla.

All-Onion Tortilla.

Tortilla with Zucchini and Potatoes.

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate. Happy Cooking with Olive Oil to Everyone Else.

GETTING COZY WITH THE OVEN

Using the oven is a weekend thing for me. That’s when electricity costs are lowest, so turning on the electric appliance is least costly. I like to pack the oven to capacity to best use the energy.

I was accustomed to using the settings and temperatures for a conventional oven.  But with pans and oven dishes on two racks, I found I needed to punch up the convection, using the fan function. Although I switched five years ago from a gas stove to electric, I had hardly used the fan option. It takes some getting used to. (A fan oven is also called a “convection” oven.)

Because the fan provides circulation of the heat, foods cook quicker and more evenly. Fan cooking is slightly more energy-efficient. 

Using the fan, the oven temperature should be set 25ºF-40ºF lower than for conventional heating. My Spanish oven recommends lowering the temperature 20ºC-40ºC for fan cooking. (To convert a Spanish oven’s centigrade thermostat temps to more familiar Fahrenheit, see below). I’ve found that, with the fan, I need to cover a roasting chicken part-way through, so the skin doesn’t brown too rapidly.   

Last weekend I baked a tray of chicken legs; a zucchini timbale (which can be served as a side dish or a vegetarian main); and a casserole of potatoes with chorizo. 

The potatoes with chorizo are an adaptation of a famous dish from La Rioja. Besides wine, La Rioja is known for its chorizo and for its peppers, such as dried choriceros. The dish is usually cooked in a pot on top of the stove. It is a plato de cuchara, served soupy, with all the savory juices. But, if you use a slotted spoon to lift the potatoes out of the remaining liquid, it makes a fine side dish with the chicken, the timbale, with roast salmon, baked pork chops or almost any other oven-baked main.

Oven version of Potatoes la Rioja Style, with chunks of chorizo sausage. I'm serving the potatoes with a Rioja Tempranillo wine.

Traditionally, a "plato de cuchara," humble "spoon food." But the potatoes can also be served as a side dish.

Oven-Cooked Potatoes with Chorizo

Patatas a la Riojana al Horno

Dry-cured ibérico chorizo.

Use any kind of chorizo for this recipe—the dry-cured, hard, slicing sort or soft, cooking chorizo. Ibérico chorizo is the best, but not essential. Slice or cut the chorizo into cubes. 

In Spain, you can buy small jars of choricero pepper paste. If not available, use pimentón (paprika), smoked or not smoked, mixed with a little water to make a paste. Add chile or red pepper flakes to taste.

For the traditional version of this dish, the potatoes are “cachado,” “broken” into 2-inch chunks. For this, you cut part way into the potato with a knife, then snap off the chunk, leaving an uneven surface that releases potato starch, which helps to thicken the sauce. For the oven version, I chose to slice the potatoes, but gave each slice a final snap.  

Serves 4 as a side.

1 ½ pounds potatoes (such as russets)

½ cup finely chopped onions

2 cloves garlic, chopped

¼ cup chopped green pepper

Minced chile or red pepper flakes, to taste

3 tablespoons olive oil

3-4 ounces chorizo sausage

1 bay leaf

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon pimentón (paprika)

1 tablespoon water

1 cup boiling water

Chopped parsley to garnish

Preheat oven to 350ºF with fan (convection) or 375ºF without.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into ½-inch slices. Combine in a bowl with the onions, garlic, green pepper, chile and oil. Remove sausage casing (skin) from the chorizo and cut it into ¾-inch dice. Add to the potatoes. Break the bay leaf into 3 or 4 pieces and add them to the potatoes with 1 teaspoon salt and pepper. Mix the pimentón with 1 tablespoon of water to make a paste and mix it with the potatoes.

Spread the potatoes, onions and chorizo in a baking dish. Carefully pour over the boiling water. Place the dish in the oven. Bake until the potatoes are very tender, about 45 minutes. Allow them to stand 10 minutes before serving.

Garnish the potatoes with chopped parsley. 

Ladle the potatoes and their juices into individual dishes or, If serving as a side dish, use a slotted spoon to serve them without the liquid. 

Instead of stewing, the potatoes are cooked in the oven.

I won't be roasting a turkey for Thanksgiving this year, so I have yet to try the oven fan for the big bird. 

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Oven temperature conversions, Fahrenheit to Celsius (approximate)

200ºF 95ºC

225ºF 110ºC

250ºF 120ºC

300ºF 150ºC

325ºF 160ºC

350ºF 180ºC 

375ºF 190ºC

400ºF 205ºC

425ºF 220ºF

450ºF 230ºC

500ºF 260ºC

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More recipes for the oven;

Spinach or Zucchini Timbale.

Roast Chicken with Chorizo.

OLOROSO SHERRY—A PERFECT HOLIDAY WINE

 

Oloroso Sherry, perfect wine with holiday foods, from apéritif to soup, pâté to dessert.

I always have a bottle of dry fino Sherry or manzanilla on hand, both for sipping and for using in cooking. But, to celebrate World Sherry Week., I decided to expand my horizons a little and try something different. I chose a bottle of oloroso seco Sherry without knowing quite how best to enjoy it.

 

I turned to my friend, Shawn Hennessey, a Sherry educator, for some advice about what to pair with oloroso. Shawn gives Sherry tasting tours--with tapas, of course—in Sevilla where she lives. 

“Oloroso,” says Shawn, “is aged oxidatively, without the velo de flor [yeast covering], so, while still a dry wine, it maintains its original residual sugars and glycerine. This results in a fuller, rounder caramelly flavour that goes great with meat and game dishes.”

Shawn is sampling a different Sherry every day during Sherry week. Day 4 was her oloroso day. She posted on Instagram pictures of montadito de pringá, fatty meat and sausage piled on a bread roll, and rabo de toro, oxtail in a rich sauce that accompanied the oloroso.

I was reminded of the old adage about pairing Sherry with food. It says that “Si nada, fino o manzanilla; si vuela, amontillado; si corre, oloroso”. If it swims, choose fino or manzanilla; if it flies, amontillado; if it trots, oloroso. I can think of plenty of exceptions! Ibérico ham, for example, comes from a trotting animal, the ibérico pig, but it’s best with a fino Sherry, while smoked salmon, a swimmer, proves the rule and demands a good manzanilla. Toasted almonds, which neither swim, nor fly nor trot, are gorgeous with amontillado.

While mojama, salt-cured tuna—the “ham of the sea”—is best with manzanilla, a rich tuna takaki might very well pair nicely with robust oloroso. Oloroso pairs with foods that are salty, smoky, spicy, strong, fatty, robust or rich in collagen.

Topaz-amber-mahogany in color, oloroso is rounder, fuller and more structured than fino Sherry, akin to a medium-bodied red wine.  It is a fortified wine with an alcohol level of about 20º, which makes it different from most table wines.

After a week of tasting and cooking with oloroso, I can tell you, it’s the ideal holiday wine—it goes with all those special foods, from soup to nuts! Are you splurging on rich micuit de foie gras (duck liver)? Oloroso is your wine. Aged cheeses? Pair them with oloroso. Try this mellow wine in the consommé, in the mushroom stuffing for the Thanksgiving bird or the turkey gravy. Serve it with venison, duck or turkey. Hey, turkeys don’t really fly much, do they? Oloroso will complement a nut torte or chocolate-covered fig rabitos for dessert. Cocktails? Combine oloroso, fizzy water and a slice of orange. 

Serve oloroso with sausage and mature cheese. Pictured here, ibérico chorizo sausage,  glistening with fat and a little spicy, and aged sheep's milk cheese with considerable bite. 

To serve with apéritifs, an easy chicken liver pâté made with umami ibérico pork fat. 

Spiced with ginger, cumin and pimentón, this butternut squash soup needs an equally robust wine.

Here are two recipes suitable for a holiday meal, both with oloroso—an ibérico-inflected chicken liver pâté and a spicy pumpkin soup.

Ibérico Pâté of Chicken Livers

Pâté Ibérico de Higadillos de Pollo

Fat—butter, duck fat, pork fat, chicken fat—is what makes pâté rich, smooth and creamy. This version is made with rendered ibérico pork fat. 

Rendered ibérico pork fat.

You will need about 16 ounces of fresh ibérico tocino or panceta to make 1 cup of rendered fat. Cut it into small dice and cook in a heavy skillet on moderate heat until the fat is melted and the pieces just begin to brown. Remove from heat and very carefully pour the fat through a heat-proof sieve into a heat-proof bowl. Reserve the pieces of tocino or panceta for another use. 

If pork fat is not an option, use rendered duck, goose or chicken fat. 

To make a really smooth, velvety pâté, after grinding the livers in a food processor, force the paste through a fine sieve. This step is not essential, but it adds a luxurious touch. (However, I ate all the chewier paste left in the sieve!)

The pâtë keeps, refrigerated, up to a week. Or freeze it up to 3 months. Serve the pâté with crisp toasts, crackers or fresh bread. Oloroso Sherry is the perfect wine to pair with this pâté. 

Makes 1 ½ to 2 cups of pâté.

Fresh thyme leaves for pâté.

1 pound chicken livers

1 cup milk

1 cup (8 ounces) rendered ibérico fat, room temperature

1/3 cup finely chopped shallots

1 clove garlic, chopped

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons oloroso Sherry

¼ teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Grating of nutmeg

Sprigs of thyme to garnish

Green peppercorns (optional)

Use kitchen scissors to remove any membrane or discoloration from the livers. Place them in a bowl and pour over the milk. Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 8 hours.

Drain the livers, discarding the milk, rinse them in cold water and pat them dry.

Heat 2 tablespoons of the fat in a heavy skillet. Add the shallots and garlic and sauté them gently until softened, 5 minutes, without letting them brown. 

Livers still pink inside.

Season the livers with ½ teaspoon of salt and pepper. Add 1 tablespoon more of fat to the skillet and add the livers. Sauté them on moderate heat, turning to brown them on all sides, about 5 minutes. Cut into one piece to test for doneness. Livers are done when they are still pink inside. Skim out smaller pieces first. 

When all the livers are done, remove them. Add the Sherry to the shallots remaining in the skillet. Cook off the alcohol, 30 seconds. Scrape the shallots and pan juices into a food processor bowl. Add the livers, thyme leaves and nutmeg. Process until finely chopped. Add half of the remaining pork fat and process again. Add remaining fat and process until the livers are completely smooth. Taste and add additional salt, a half-teaspoon at a time.

Sieving is optional.

Optional: For a very smooth pâtë, press the chicken liver paste through a sieve.

Pack the pâté into a 2-cup crock or bowl. Smooth the top. Place a sprig of thyme on top and, if desired, spread with green peppercorns. Cover the pâté tightly and refrigerate. Remove the pâté from the fridge 20 minutes before serving, so it softens slightly.

Serve the pâté with crackers or toast.

Spiced Pumpkin Soup

Crema de Calabaza 

With a swirl of yogurt or, vegan, without.

Roasting the pumpkin or squash makes it easier to peel and adds flavor. It doesn’t need to cook completely, only to get nice and toasted. This step can be done a day in advance. I used butternut squash, but any winter squash or pumpkin can be used.

Make this soup vegan, if you like, by using vegetable stock or even water. Garnish with cashew cream or toasted pumpkin seeds instead of the suggested Greek yogurt.

If you like, add another spoonful of Sherry to the soup before serving. Serve the soup with oloroso seco Sherry.

Serves 4.

Fennel seeds.

2 pounds pumpkin or squash

Olive oil

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 cup chopped leeks

2 cloves garlic, chopped

¼ cup peeled and chopped red bell pepper

Pinch of fennel seeds

1 teaspoon cumin

¼ teaspoon smoked pimentón picante (hot paprika)

½ teaspoon sweet pimentón (paprika)

3 tablespoons oloroso Sherry

6 cups chicken stock, vegetable stock or water

Strip of orange zest

Sherry vinegar, to taste

¼ cup Greek yogurt, to garnish

1 tablespoon orange juice

Chopped scallion greens, to garnish

Preheat broiler to 500ºF.

Toast squash under broiler.

Split the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Slice it crosswise, skin and all. Place the slices on a baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place under the broiler 5 minutes. Turn the slices of squash and broil until tops are somewhat browned, 5 minutes more. Remove. When cool enough to handle, cut away the skins and discard them. 

Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a soup pot. Sauté the leeks and garlic on medium heat until softened, 4 minutes. Don’t let them brown. Add the chopped pepper, fennel and cumin. Stir in the hot pimentón and sweet pimentón. Add the Sherry and cook off the alcohol, 30 seconds. Add the pieces of squash, the stock and the strip of zest. Add salt to taste. (If using stock, the soup may not need any salt; if using water, season with 1 teaspoon or more of salt.)

Cook the soup, uncovered, until the squash is very tender, 20 minutes. Fish out and discard the strip of zest. Cool the soup slightly. Use an immersion blender to puree the soup. Taste the soup and add a spoonful of vinegar to balance the sweetness of the squash. 

Reheat before serving the soup. Combine the yogurt, orange juice and ¼ teaspoon salt. Swirl the yogurt into the soup bowls. Garnish with scallions.

Serve Sherry in narrow-mouthed catavino glasses, as shown, or in white wine stemmed glasses. 

Shawn Hennessey, pictured here with a copita of fino Sherry, is a certified Sherry educator. See more about her Sherry and tapas tasting tours in Sevilla. Azahar-Sevilla.

More pâté recipes:

Partridge and Chicken Pâté.

Monkfish Liver Pâté.

Fish Terrine.

Piquillo Pepper and Tuna Pâté.

Olive Pâté.

More food and Sherry pairings:

Lamb Shanks with Prunes.

Oven-Braised Beef Cheeks.

Oloroso-Glazed Chicken al Ajillo.

Sheet Pan Rabbit with Oloroso Sherry.

More about Sherry:

The Wine That Goes with Everything.

A Week to Celebrate Sherry.

BIRTHDAY TREATS

 What do I want for my birthday? No chocolate, thank you very much. No cake, no steak. No fancy dinner out. For the same money we would pay at a fine dining establishment, I can buy myself a day’s worth of treats. And, so I did.

These are a few of my favorite things. I adore lamb, so that’s what I want for a main course. Roasted medium-rare, please. My second choice is a toss-up--magret de pato, duck breast; a whole, roasted fish such as mero, grouper; or perhaps a succulent piece of fresh ibérico pork.

For starters, I’ve got a real luxury, zambuiñas, very small scallops (Chlamys varia). But, on my splurge shopping spree, I couldn’t resist buying jumbo shrimp (langostino) as well (one shrimp cost $10.00!), so I´m having that for lunch and the scallops with dinner.

I´m also resist treating myself to ibérico ham, so with toast and tomatoes, that’s my birthday breakfast.

A “few of my favorite things” from the song sound pretty good too—“crisp apple strudels and schnitzel with noodles.” But, for dessert, I’ve got, not strudel, but my beloved raspberries. 

Breakfast--sunshine, flowers, clementine juice with bubbly cava and ibérico ham on toasts with olive oil and tomatoes.

This ibérico ham is from a packet, not sliced to order. Still pretty delicious. 

Lunch--jumbo grilled shrimp and a glass of cava. 

Jumbo shrimp is chewy, so flavorful. With a sauce made from the shrimp roe.

Copita of cava. I buy a 3-pack of benjamínes, small bottles.

To finish off the cava--a sauce for the zamburiñas, small scallops. What a treat.

Zamburiñas are exceptionally flavorful.

Dinner--tender lamb, roasted potatoes, zucchini and tomato mélange, red tempranillo.

Capers add zest to pan gravy.

Sauce for Shellfish

Salsa para Mariscos

Jumbo tiger shrimp has dark-colored roe.

Roe turns pink when cooked.

When I split the jumbo tiger shrimp open, I discovered a thick line of dark “gunk” inside the shell and head. I scooped it out and poached it one minute. The gunk turned bright pink, like lobster coral. This flavorful stuff mixed with mayonnaise and lemon makes the sauce for the grilled shrimp. 

2 tablespoons cooked shellfish coral roe

1 tablespoon chopped scallions

1 tablespoon grated tomato

¼ cup mayonnaise

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1/8 teaspoon smoked pimentón picante (hot paprika)

Salt

Combine all the ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Keep covered and refrigerated up to two days.

Scallops in Cava Sauce

Zamburiñas en Salsa de Cava

Zamburiñas are small scallops. (The larger ones are called vieiras.) These are raw.

The scallops can be prepared in advance and reheated under a broiler until they are lightly browned.

Serves 2.

8 small scallops (about 4 ounces shelled)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 shallot, chopped

2 tablespoons grated tomato pulp

¼ cup cava or white wine

¼ cup cream

Salt

Pinch of hot pimentón or cayenne

If scallops are small, leave them whole. If very large, cut them in half. Brush a heavy skillet or grill pan with oil. Sear the scallops on all sides and remove them

Add remaining oil to the skillet. Add the shallot and sauté for 2 minutes, without letting them brown. Add the tomato pulp and cook 2 minutes. Add the cava and let the alcohol cook off. Add the cream. Season with salt to taste and pimentón. Cook gently until the sauce is slightly reduced and thickened, 2 minutes. 

Return the scallops to the sauce and heat gently. Divide the scallops and sauce between two shells or ramekins.

Caper Marinade for Lamb

Adobo con Alcaparras para Cordero

The brine in a jar of capers is a flavorful marinade for meat. Use some of the capers as well.  

Caper brine and herbs.

Fresh thyme

Fresh rosemary

¼ cup chopped parsley

4 cloves garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

Freshly ground black pepper

¼ cup caper juice + a few capers

Strip the leaves from the stems of the thyme and rosemary. Add the leaves to a mini-processor with the parsley and garlic. Process until finely chopped. Add the oil, lemon juice, pepper and caper juice and process again. 

Roast Leg of Lamb with Caper Gravy

Pierna de Cordero Asada

This is spring lamb (recental), not baby lamb (lechal). I had the shank (jarrete) removed. The remaining leg weighed in at 4 pounds. It was done to medium-rare in about 65 minutes, but roasting time will vary depending on size of the piece of meat. 

Marinate the meat overnight or about 8 hours. 

1 leg of lamb, about 4 pounds

Caper marinade

1 cup water

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon capers

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Remove and discard excess fat from the piece of meat, but leave the “skin” or covering membrane. Spread the marinade on all sides of the meat. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate 8 hours.

Unwrap the meat and bring it to room temperature. Do not remove the marinade. Preheat oven to 400ºF. 

Roast the lamb with the marinade for 20 minutes. Pour ½ cup of the water around the meat and lower the oven temperature to 350ºF. Roast 30 minutes longer. Test for doneness. (Medium-rare should register 145ºF when tested with an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part of the meat.) Return the lamb to the oven until the it reaches desired doneness.

Allow roasted meat to stand 10 minutes before carving.

Remove the meat to a cutting board.

Drain all of the pan juices into a saucepan. In a small bowl combine the cornstarch with the remaining ½ cup of water. Stir until it is smooth. Stir the mixture into the pan and cook on moderate heat until the gravy is thickened and beginning to bubble. Stir in the lemon juice, capers and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve the gravy alongside the meat.